Bryant AA team muscles up on North Little Rock
EDITOR’S NOTE: In this time of COVID-19, with no sports action, BryantDaily.com will be posting past stories of Bryant athletics either posted on BryantDaily.com (from 2009 to the present) or published in the Bryant Times (from 1998 to 2008).
NORTH LITTLE ROCK — After his team won with dinks, bloops and gorks to go along with 10 walks at Benton on Monday night, Sport Shop Black Sox AA American Legion manager Hunter Mayall wanted to see his team swing the bats a little better on Wednesday when they took on the North Little Rock Colts.
His players obliged.
With Weston Jones belting his second home run in as many nights (for different teams), the Sox hammered out 13 hits including five for extra bases on the way to an 8-3 win over the Colts on DeJanis Memorial Field at Vince DeSalvo Stadium in Burns Park.
Jones and Bailey Bowers each had three hits and Bradley Plunkett had two for the Bryant team, which improved to 3-2 on the season going into a doubleheader tonight at Ashdown.
“They swung it much better tonight, the whole night,” Mayall affirmed. “Even when we didn’t get hits, we hit it hard.”
Bowers combined with Plunkett and Daniel Darbonne to limit North Little Rock to a three runs, only one earned, on four hits over six innings. Bowers picked up the win with four innings of work, shutting the Colts down after surrendering a pair of runs in the first.
“We pitched well,” Mayall said. “Plunkett came in unexpectedly and gave us a good inning and Darbonne closed it out for us. Bailey did a great job and threw strikes, especially after that first inning.”
The Sox flashed plenty of leather too with no one more importantly than Plunkett who somehow got his glove up on a lined shot back to the mound that would’ve hit him in the head otherwise. Jones made a nice, over-the-shoulder catch to save runs in the fifth and the first inning ended in spectacular fashion when right-fielder Ashton Shropshire hauled in a fly to right and gunned down Reed Shepherd trying to score after tagging up at third.
The game started routinely. The first two Sox batters were retired by North Little Rock starter Devan Dodson but then Bowers laced a sharp grounder just inside the line at third for a double. That started a string of six consecutive hits for Bryant, which cracked hits in five of the team’s six turns at the plate.
Jones ripped a one-hopper that Colts’ third baseman Bennie Ralston could only knock down. And when Ralston followed up with an errant throw to first, Joey Cats, running for Bowers, sprinted home as Jones wound up at second. Caleb Chaffin traded places with him, cracking a double to right-center to make it 2-0.
Nick Kehrees beat out an infield hit on a grounder into the hole at deep short. Plunkett followed with a solid single to left to drive in Chaffin before Darbonne pulled a grounder into right field for an RBI single to make it 4-0.
Bowers issued a walk to Chase Freeman to start the home first. Zac Freeman singled then Reed Shepherd got a sacrifice bunt down that drew a wild throw to first. One runs scored and, moments later, another came home on Ralston’s grounder, which resulted in an out at first thanks to a sparkling play by Kehrees at short.
With Shepherd at third, Owen Stuckey flew to medium right field. Shepherd tagged but Shropshire unleashed his throw to the plate in time for Dakota Besancon to apply the tag.
Bowers would work around a one-out walk in the second then retire the side in order in the third. In the fourth, Chance Harger beat out an infield hit but the Sox turned a doubleplay to erase the runner. Bailey finished his stint on the mound with a strikeout.
By then, Sport Shop had added to its lead. In the third, Plunkett beat out an infield hit and, with two down, Shropshire’s grounder to second was booted. With runners at first and second, Besancon cracked a base hit off Ralston’s glove. The ball trickled into left field, allowing Plunkett to score just seconds ahead of Shropshire getting tagged out trying to reach third.
The Sox chased Dodson when Hunter Oglesby singled to open the fourth. Ben Parner was greeted by Bailey with a shot into the right-field corner. Oglesby hustled all the way around to score from first to make it 6-2.
That brought Jones to the plate. On Tuesday, playing for Bryant’s Junior Legion team, the Everett Black Sox, he belted a solo homer to left at Sheridan. At North Little Rock, the count ran to 2-1 then Jones unloaded for a two-run blast to make it 8-2.
Plunkett worked the fifth and issued walks to Caleb White and Cole Dobson. But he picked off White then, after knocking down the shot back to the mound, threw out Chase Freeman. Zac Freeman hit a looper to shallow center that fell in but Kehrees got close enough to make Dobson hold at second. Shepherd followed with a drive to deep left that Jones hauled down to end the threat.
Ralston beat out an infield hit to lead off the home sixth. A late throw to first was errant allowing him to take second. After a one-out walk to Stuckey, a passed ball put runners at second and third. But Darbonne got Balke Keene to ground to second as Ralston scored. He then ended the game with a called third strike on White.
BRYANT SPORT SHOP 8, NORTH LITTLE ROCK 3
Black Sox ab r h bi Colts ab r h bi
Besancon, c 3 0 1 1 C.Freeman, c 2 1 0 0
Oglesby, cf 4 1 1 0 Z.Freeman, ss 3 1 2 0
Bowers, p-3b 4 0 3 1 Shepherd, dh 2 0 0 0
Cates, cr-2b 0 2 0 0 Maloch, 1b 0 0 0 0
Jones, 3b-lf 4 2 3 2 Ralston, 3b 3 1 1 1
Chaffin, 1b 4 1 1 1 Harger, cf 2 0 1 0
Kehrees, ss 4 1 1 0 Stuckey, 1b-p 2 0 0 0
Plunkett, lf-p 3 1 2 1 Tucker, 2b 2 0 0 0
Darbonne, 2b-p 3 0 1 1 Menard, 2b 0 0 0 0
Shropshire, rf 2 0 0 0 Keene, ph 1 0 0 1
Miller, lf 0 0 0 0
White, rf 1 0 0 0
Howell, rf 1 0 0 0
Dobson, lf 1 0 0 0
Dodson, p 0 0 0 0
Parner, p 0 0 0 0
Totals 31 8 13 7 Totals 19 3 4 2
Bryant 401 300 — 8
NLR 200 001 — 3
E—Ralston, Jones, Tucker, Kehrees. DP—Bryant 2. LOB—Bryant 7, North Little Rock 5. 2B—Bowers 2, Chaffin, Jones. HR—Jones. SB—Oglesby, Shropshire, Miller. S—Shepherd.
Pitching ip r er h bb so
Bryant
Bowers (W) 4 2 1 2 2 4
Plunkett 1 0 0 1 2 0
Darbonne 1 1 0 1 1 1
North Little Rock
Dodson (L) 3 6 5 9 1 2
Parner 2 2 2 2 1 3
Stuckey 1 0 0 1 0 0
Balk—Plunkett. HBP—Harger (by Bowers). WP—Bowers. PB—Besancon.
